The Queen

Okay, so here’s my very first Oscar-nominated-film review, and it is of Stephen Frears’ The Queen, starring the incomparable Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. Of course I am inclined to like it because Helen Mirren, you know, she was very delightful in Calendar Girls and Gosford Park; and Michael Sheen, you probably don’t know, was in Wilde with Stephen Fry and played darling darling Robbie Ross whom I love so dearly that I called my stuffed rabbit comfort object after him. Nonetheless I have tried to view it with the cold eye of criticism, and we shall see how I manage.

I am glad to report that the hype over Helen Mirren’s performance as Queen Elizabeth is fully deserved. She is excellent, very understated and serious and regal, and sometimes she turns her head a certain way and the resemblance is just uncanny. Michael Sheen is delightful as Tony Blair, although it’s hard to be fond of his character however sympathetically he plays it, because We All Know where his prime ministership is going, and my brain keeps saying, Ya young fresh-faced whippersnapper, you’re ten years older and much less popular now so don’t you make that grinny little face at me, because I know about you. Sympathetic portrayals all round, and the flim doesn’t even take cheap shots at Prince Philip, which would be so awfully easy and fun for everyone. Well played all.

Now I must preface my gentle criticism by saying that I am aware that a flim such as this would be very difficult to write, as most everyone in it is still around and it would be tacky to show the characters being nasty during a tragedy like this even if they are nasty in real life. That said, I think the film suffers from too much sensitivity. The princes are not given any lines but are only seen from the back and at a distance, so Queen Elizabeth will be saying, Shush, the boys will hear you, and gesturing at two out-of-focus lads on the opposite bank. This is of course very tactful and correct, well done Stephen Frears, well done Peter Morgan The Script Man, I genuinely applaud you for sensitivity.

But really it’s a bit silly. Can we all agree it’s a bit silly? Those princes over there – yeah, I know you can’t see them, but I swear they’re there. Stephen Frears and his coy games. It’s like a really really really low-budget B-movie where you just see a vague fuzzy shot of the monster and then lots of shots of everybody screaming and running away. Such contrivances lead to a feeling of tentativeness in the film as a whole, no matter how assured the performances of the actors.

Overall very good. Won’t win Best Picture (unless the Academy really can’t resist the lure of the monarchy), and the metaphor of the deer isn’t awfully subtle, and there’s always the inevitable feeling that the filmmakers are exploiting Princess Diana just a little; but if they are, they’re doing it with class.

P.S. mainly for Robyn but really for anyone: If I ever mention a film that you would like to see, just mention it to me and I’ll try to arrange a viewing for you when I come back to the States.